Heroes for Holden 2012, Tomorrow in Pasadena

Man. I’ve been meaning to post something about this for a while now, but I’m having a hard time even thinking about this; every time I do, this wave of horrified disbelief just hits me and stops me in my tracks.

I remember hearing about it at the time, but it was just a quick news blurb about yet another godawful thing some freaking monster of a parent did to their poor, innocent child — it seems like I hear way, way too many of those stories, these days. Looking at the story now, though, and seeing pictures of now-five-year-old Holden Gothia, I’m brought right back to it with a vengeance and left wondering how in the hell something like this is even possible.

I won’t go into the details here, but when he was only five weeks old, this little boy’s mother mutilated her own child, removing his genitals. He survived, his mother was sent away to prison for life, and he was sent to live with a Deer Park family of unbelievably kind, caring people who’ve taken him as one of their own and raised him to be a happy, friendly kid. The latter part of which is awesome and amazing, obviously, but Holden is going to require major reconstructive surgery a few years from now, surgery that his adopted family is in no way going to be able to pay for (the estimate expense I’ve seen is upwards of $500,000).

So some other good-hearted people formed a group called Heroes for Holden, and they’ve been holding benefits of all kinds for the little guy, from motorcycle rides to concerts to whatever else, and the last effort is the Heroes for Holden 2012 concert out at the Pasadena Convention Center tomorrow, Sunday, June 10th. The organizers have got an impressive lineup, including Wayne Toups, Tracy Byrd, & {Hamilton Loomis}, and there’s some kind of truck raffle thing, as well; it sounds like quite a party.

The benefit runs from 2-10PM, and tickets are $25. I’m not sure you can get ’em there, so I’d purchase ’em online beforehand — it’s well worth it, to my mind, to help out a little boy in need.